When do you think people will finally start to understand atheism?

Alright, so a couple of days ago I was talking to a friend of mine in class. And we began to talk about religion. Now I'm far from the kind of person that likes to showcase my views on things, But I told him I was an Atheist. He Actually didn't believe me at first, and said that people have to take a oath to become an atheist. We literally argued about this for 5 whole minutes before I finally said lets go to an computer and get google the definition. after I showed him what atheism actually is, He still retained doubt. I just said forget it, and ended the conversation on it there.

What I'm asking is how long will people remain that ignorant on atheism. It's not like he's dumb when it comes to other topics. He says He's a christian and he never even read the bible. And when I told him and another friend I read it They Laughed. Oh yeah and I forgot to mention one of the guys laughing has a tattoo that says "blessed" on his chest. And he never read the bible. That's just stupid to me, But I kinda want to know what other people think about this.

Replies to This Discussion

There are many christian religions and several versions of the bible. Episcopalians don't have a lot in common with folk down the street at the pentecostal church. Yet most christians seem to believe their church is the only "right" church and everyone else will go to hell. How does that work? What about people who change from one church to another? You might also want to read a bit about what the "founding fathers" actually thought about religion.

Colt, I hope you're not an atheist troll, because I have to talk here. I get where you're coming from here. Really, I do. Just because you are a person of faith, doesn't mean you are unintelligent. Graham may have worded it a bit better, but really, he's talking about a specific group of Christians that never question their faiths and never investigate further. However, you mentioned several things here that don't make a lot of sense.

Most all main religions, from Judaism to Islam, also require daily devotions. In fact, it should be in every waking moment. So a true Muslim and a true Jew would require to follow rules, just like Christians may. Religion is a social event, based on where you are born, your parents & family, and your surrounding faith.

America was not started with Christian principles like you may think they do, unless you still believe in witches. Many founding fathers were non-believers. The mentioning of God in the Declaration doesn't describe the Christian God. The Constitution doesn't mention God at all. Read more about this: http://www.nobeliefs.com/Tripoli.htm

Perhaps a few here and there may care about what the paranoid book The Naked Communist has mentioned, but not me. Science and logic has little to do with political views in respect of a belief or non-belief in a god. An atheist may or may not be a communist, independent, republican or democrat. In fact, it was the Mormons that took a big interest in The Naked Communist. http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/221780/romneys-radical-roots...

I don't know where you got this statistic that the largest atheist movement came from a single book, but I could find nothing on it. Enlighten me? Atheism existed way before the 1950's. If you consider Buddhism (as some don't believe in a god), then that might apply as a larger group than anything that book 'created'.

You say, "Christians outnumber atheist 9 to 1".

"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect."

You also said "Christians go to church to learn the gospel by appointed educated men who decipher the bible so as to not take what it says out of context and help Christians decipher it."

Who, exactly? Which one of the Christian religions? There are thousands!! Do I follow those that say God is 3 or God is 1? That the bible is to be taken literally, or just the new testament? Perhaps the preacher that states its OK to give him money because God told him to take a tithe, or the one that tells me to shun all worldly things?

The message in the bible is most certainly NOT beautiful, and I have studied it for over 40 years. Slavery and rape is never mentioned in the commandments? Why not? Death is the main picture I get from the bible. Bloody wars in the name of God, even human sacrifice, that's right, for God. God never stopped it from happening, and that to me is awful. Cherry picking the good parts of the bible does not hide the fact that it is filled with horror.

It's possible someone named Jesus who was crucified did exist, but there is no exact proof. Any historical book that shows Jesus lived gets its information from one source. The bible. Since there is no other proof, that's not called historical proof, that's called historical faith. You joined us here for some reason, Colt. Many of us here know the Bible and its different forms, some know the Quran. When you see someone rant or post something you disagree with, seriously, please don't take it personal. But do question. I mean, that is why you're here, right? You don't really mean "Entertainment purposes" like it states in your page? You meant "Educational purposes" right?

The bible was rewritten after the PRINTING PRESS was developed., and rewritten again to appeal to the people(New Testament)

Looong before any siesmic recordings.

Don't insult our intelligence by saying God wrote the bible and everything in it is true.

Superstition is addictive and will draw you in faster than crack if you can't keep an open mind. All you need are these ingredients: Awareness of your own glaring weaknesses and the greedy hope that some imaginary thing can "get your back"in those areas and save you.

@Bill - shame Watterston walked away from Calvin and Hobbes, but I guess one can only hold so many brilliant cartoons in the human mind, and when they're gone, they're gone.

Actually, the Hebrew Bible - the Tanakh - was written and edited between 950 and 400 BCE, then, after the Alexandrian Conquest, Jews in Alexandria translated it into Greek, the language d'jour, and called it the Septuagint, in the 3rd and 2nd centuries, BCE. After the Romans kicked out the Greeks, and Latin became the language d'jour, it was translated into what became the Latin Vulgate. Only in the 1600's was it translated into English and printed. But if it weren't already full of BS (which it was), having gone through three different language translations couldn't have helped accuracy.

I happened into a bookstore during a sale on bound collections of his Calvin and Hobbes strips. I bought eight volumes and about every four years read them and often all but fall out my chair enjoying them. I respect him for knowing when his stories were gone. Or maybe he had all the wealth he needed.

About the bible's translation into English. The religious powers of those times scoured Europe looking for the translator, found him and killed him. He had wrecked their hideous games.

Tom - a receptionist working for the publishing company that franchised Waterston's work once wrote that he would bring in his own copy and drop it off at her desk each week, and that he was so quiet and unobtrusive, and a bit unkempt, that she assumed he was a delivery person who had been hired to deliver the copy, and had no idea that it was Waterston himself.